‘What you are doing is making a difference,’ Dr. Haywood Robinson says during kickoff of 40 Days for Life campaign on Woodward
ROYAL OAK — Never discount the power of prayer to change the hearts and minds of those involved in the abortion industry.
It changed Dr. Haywood Robinson's heart. And it's changed the hearts of countless mothers, fathers and clinic workers, in addition to saving the lives of thousands of unborn children.
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That was the message delivered Feb. 13 to a roomful of volunteers at St. Mary Parish in Royal Oak during a kickoff event for the International 40 Days for Life campaign, a grassroots campaign during which more than 1 million volunteers will spend time praying outside abortion clinics in 656 cities worldwide in silent, peaceful witness this Lent.
During the 40-day local campaign, volunteers can sign up for a timeslot to pray outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Woodward Avenue in Ferndale, bearing witness to the sanctity of life while praying for the unborn, for mothers, for clinic workers and all in society who see abortion as a solution.
Volunteers remain on the sidewalk and are not there to trespass or cause any disturbance, organizers said, but instead give witness to the sanctity of life through their quiet prayer.
Dr. Robinson, director of medical affairs and education for 40 Days for Life, and a former abortionist who had a pro-life conversion in 1986 and since then has worked to promote the pro-life cause, was the information night's keynote speaker.
Dr. Robinson and his wife, Noreen, documented their conversion in a book titled, “The Scalpel and the Soul.” Noreen passed away in 2021. Dr. Robinson remarried, and he and his wife, Daphne, serve together in family life and pregnancy care missions and travel the country, speaking on behalf of 40 Days for Life, which is headquartered in College Station, Texas.
“Thank you guys for having us here, we started in Grand Rapids, and have been to Ann Arbor and Windsor, (Ontario). You guys in Michigan have a special intensity,” Dr. Robinson said. “I think we’re seeing across the board in the movement we are getting our feet set firmer in the ground. With almost 700 prayer campaigns, give God a hand; we’re showing the world we aren’t going away.”
Dr. Robinson spoke about how his attendance at a Christian music concert made him re-evaluate his prior position on abortion, and how he has guided former abortionists and abortion clinic workers — including Abby Johnson — to the pro-life cause, and how his pro-life convictions are rooted not only in Scripture, but what medical science has always known: that the life inside a mother’s womb is, indeed, life.
“We know abortion is not just an American phenomenon; this is a global attack on the innocence,” said Dr. Robinson, who later specialized in neonatal palliative care for crisis pregnancies at a clinic he and his wife started. “It didn’t start in 1973, otherwise it wouldn’t have been addressed in the Hippocratic Oath that was written in about 400 B.C., ‘Do no harm.’ Abortion is not something new at all. This is something our eternal enemy, the devil, (caused) since the time he influenced the first murder, when he told Cain to slay his brother, Abel. That is who we are up against.”
Dr. Robinson hosted a question-and-answer session about the ways pro-lifers can be effective in today’s political climate, noting God’s will isn’t subject to politics, and it’s on pro-lifers to stand tall, regardless of election results.
Joe Queen, a parishioner at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak, has been participating in 40 Days for Life since 2007, usually volunteering for the noon to 1 p.m. shift.
“As I’m out witnessing in public as cars drive by and you hear the horns toot and people walk past you and maybe want to make a comment, it gives me a chance to show how convicted I am for God and for this cause,” Queen told Detroit Catholic. “I’m showing everyone that through our love we care about life and care about everybody associated with the abortion industry — the doctors, the nurses, women going in, and especially for the unborn being terminated.”
Queen has personally seen people change their perspective on abortion after encountering people praying along the sidewalk in front of Planned Parenthood and knows it makes a difference. As a seasoned Vigil for Life veteran, he has advice for first-time vigil-holders.
“Usually if you are nervous about it, it is always good to go with a friend, go with someone who has done it before, who can show them the ropes and let them know it is usually a pretty safe environment,” Queen said. “There are a number of (prayer) resources we can offer, like praying a rosary for the unborn, pray for the women struggling, pray for the abortionist. It also helps to have someone next to you if anyone wants to jeer or say something to the people praying.”
The kickoff event featured other anecdotes on the success of 40 Days for Life, including individuals who have turned away from abortion because of the presence and witness of those praying outside the clinic who show them that they care and they deserve more than abortion.
“We find that across the country, when we are out there praying, that traffic going into the parking lot goes down,” Dr. Robinson said. “Why participate in this? Because it works. The Bible says, ‘When the righteous prays, it avails much,’ because we are agreeing when we are praying. Abortion offends God far more than it offends us.
“We find that when we are out there, there is as much as a 50% to 75% drop in the number of people who are going to that facility,” Dr. Robinson said. “What we are doing is making a difference, and don’t let anybody tell you differently.”
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